Tropical Shrimp Pasta Salad
This refreshing Tropical Shrimp Pasta Salad is loaded with pineapple, cabbage, shrimp, tomatoes, and pasta. A perfect dinner or side dish.
Story Behind Tropical Shrimp Pasta Salad
There is a cute little restaurant near our home here in Portugal. It’s called the Lombos Club and is attached to a sports club. From the sound of it, we didn’t think much of it until our landlord told us they served really good food. We’ve been 4 times now.
One of my favorite things to order there is this Tropical Shrimp Pasta Salad. I was worried about ordering it because a “portuguese” salad usually consists of lettuce and tomato. If you’ve ever visited Europe, you also know that salad dressings aren’t really a thing here. However, I didn’t feel brave enough to get the fish plate of the day, so I ordered this.
I was pleasantly surprised and gobbled up every bite of my tropical shrimp pasta salad. I love the combination of the lettuce and cold pasta. It’s heartier than your typically salad, so it makes a good meal. However, it could also be delicious as a side!
Ingredients You Need for Tropical Shrimp Pasta Salad
- Shrimp- For this recipe I suggest using precooked shrimp. It can be frozen and thawed or fresh from the fish counter at your grocery store.
- Pineapple- Please, please, please use fresh pineapple in this recipe. Canned pineapple just won’t taste as good. I love to use this pineapple corer/slicer. It really makes eating fresh pineapple easy.
- Cherry Tomatoes- Cherry tomatoes work best in this recipe. A regular garden tomato won’t give that same pop of flavor.
- Hard Boiled Eggs- Any salad is delicious with hard boiled eggs!
- Cabbage- I prefer to use pre-shredded purple cabbage.
- Green Leaf Lettuce- I prefer to use a head of green leaf lettuce for this salad. Romaine would also work.
- Fusilli Pasta- The texture of this twirly pasta is just perfect.
- Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar- Like I said above, Europeans don’t typically use dressings. A drizzle of high quality olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar is a great addition.
Other Recipes You Will Love
- Garlic Parmesan Green Beans
- Hot Pineapple Casserole
- Roasted Parmesan Potatoes
- Roasted Cauliflower with Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Favorite Kitchen Tools for This Recipe
Tropical Shrimp Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 head green leaf lettuce
- 2 cups shredded red cabbage
- 8 oz fusilli pasta, cooked
- 1 lb. precooked shrimp
- 4 eggs hardboiled
- 1 fresh pineapple, cubed
- 15-20 cherry tomatoes, halved
- olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Cook the fusilli pasta and cool it completely.
- Make your hard boiled eggs by boiling them in a pot of water. Boil for 10 minutes. Peel and chill the eggs.
- Chop the green leaf lettuce. Slice the cherry tomatoes in half. Cut the pineapple into cubes.
- Add of of the ingredients together. You can layer them into your salad bowl or toss them all together.
- Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for the dressing. This can be done on individuals servings versus dressing the entire salad.
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